Cartridge-positioning guide



Jul 19, 1949. P, KATZ GAR'TRIDGEIEOSI'I IONINGv GUIDE Filed Nov. 6, 1944 FIGZ.

ATTORNEY.

INVENTOR, PAUL KATZ Patented July 19, 1949 UNITED STATES 3 Claims. (01. 89-33) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in .50 caliber Browning equipped with a cartridge-positioning guide conautomatic machine guns and, more particularly,

to a unique element or cartridge-positioning guide, as it may be called, which can be economically employed in such guns for the prevention of misfiring due to so-called short rounds.

As will be well understood by those familiar with the operation and construction of machine guns, the cartridges are provided at the rear or case end with an annular groove for engagement with the extractor hook. When inserted into the feed-belt for firing, the cartridge should be fed into the gun so that this groove is more or less precisely positioned in the path of the extractor hook. At present, the over all length of the opening, or feed channel, through which the cartridges pass is such that when a standard length cartridge moves therethrough with the nose or forward end of the projectile portion of the cartridge sliding along the forward face of the feed channel, the rear end will be in proper position for engagement with the extractor hook. Frequently, however, the projectile portion of the cartridge is accidentally shoved too far into the cartridge case and thus becomes what is commonly termed a short round. Obviously, such short rounds, when movin through the feed channel with its nose sliding against the forward face thereof, will not extend rearwardly quite as far as a normal or standard cartridge and hence will not be effectively engaged by the extractor hook, with the result that the gun will (jam-Y The present invention hence has for its primary object the provision of an element or cartridge-positioning guide, as it may be called, adapted for inclusion in a machine gun to prevent misfirin due to short rounds.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an element of the type stated which is simple and inexpensive in construction and may be readily and quickly inserted as part of the gun during original construction, or as a replacement part in guns which have already been completed.

Numerous other objects, advantages and inherent functions of the present invention will become apparent as the same is more fully understood from the following description which, taken with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred form of the present invention.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of a Browning .50 caliber machine gun 5 structed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 isa transverse sectional view of the gun taken along line 2--2'of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the gun taking along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 and 5 are top plan and perspective views, respectively, of the cartridge-positioning guide; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-4 of Fig. 3, showing diagrammatically the manner in which the camming plate engages the cartridge belt and functions to position the cartridges.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention, A designates a caliber .50 M2 Browning machine gun having a conventional cover I swingably con-l nected by means of the hinge pin 2 to the top of the trunnion block 3 of the gun casing or re-' ceiver 4.

'Provided for securement to the under face of the cover I by means of rivets 5, or other suitable attachment means, is a cartridge-positioning guide B comprisin upper and lower plates 6, 1,

formed preferably of spring steel or phosphor bronze and integrally connected in spaced parallel relation across their aligned forward margins m, m, by two spaced cylindrical spring bights 8. Adjacent its rearward or free margin n, the upper plate 6 is upwardly offset, as at 9, in the provision of a retention lip l0 sized to fit snugly within a bracket slot ll formed in the under face of the cover I. The retention lip Ill is suitably bored, as at l2, for accommodating rivets 5 by which the guide B is permanently held in place.

The lower plate 1 projects rearwardly beyond the margin n of the upper plate 6 and is provided with a rearwardly presented camming margin n, curving laterally outwardly and forwardly from the center to each side in a symmetrical arc, the center portion of which is relatively straight.

' At its outer corners, the lower plate I is bent upwardly, as at l4, to aid in feeding cartridges and cartridge belts of slightly varying diameter and, finally, the lower plate 1 is provided with two apertures 15, respectively aligned with, and of larger diametral size than, the apertures H of the upper plate 6 to provide access to the rivets 5 or other fastening means and thereby facilitate the operation of attaching the cartridge-positionin guide B to the gun cover I.

In operation, the cartridge-positioning guide B will engage the forwardly presented edge of the cartridge belt-links, as illustrated in Fig. 6, and shift the belt-links, together with the associated cartridge, rearwardly into position for engagement with the extractor hook of the gun. Inasmuch as the cartridge cases are more or less precisely machined and since the belt-links grip the cartridge case at fairly accurately predetermined points, the forward edge of the belt-link serves as an accurate point of reference and the c-amming action of the guide B will thus be quite precise and short rounds can be fired without danger of jamming.

By reason of the fact that ordnance'of this type is manufactured by a diverse group of factories, the vertical clearance between the cover I and the upper face of the receiver 4 varies slightly, but the guide B will universally fit such guns because the plates 6, 1, are yieldingly connected by the bights 8, thus eliminating the need for shimming and similar special installation operations. Furthermore, the cammingmargin n of the guide B curves symmetrically in both directions so as to function regardless of Whether the machine gun is being fed from the left or right.

It will be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the cartridge positioning guide may be made'and substituted'for those herein shown and described'with out departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a machine gun having a receiver with an ammunition feed passage through which an ammunition belt may operatively pass, a guide element comprising a pair of spaced parallel plates integrally connected by a U-shaped resilient bight, one of said plates being mounted on the receiver and'the other of said plates extending into the feed passage and having a rearwardly presented arcuate margin for engagement with the belt to shift the belt and the ammunition carried thereby rearwardly with respect to the receiver. 7

proper position within the receiver to overcome the effect of short rounds regardless of the direction in which the belt is passing through the gun.

3. In combination with a machine gun having a receiver with an ammunition feed passage through which an ammunition belt may operatively pass, a guide element comprising a pair of spaced parallel plates integrally connected by a U-shaped resilient bight, one of said plates being mounted on the receiver and the other of said plates extending into the feed passage and having a rearwardly presented arcuate margin for engagement with the belt to shift the belt and the ammunition carried thereby rearwardly with respect to the receiver, said other plate being further bent upwardly at its corners for smoothly directing out-of-positionlinks of the ammunition belt into proper position as the belt moves into the receiver, thereby preventing thegun from jamming due to short rounds.

PAUL KA'IZL REFERENCES CITED The following refe ences are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

